The Journal on the Art of Record Production (JARP) is an international online peer-reviewed journal promoting the interdisciplinary study of record production. The journal commissions and publishes peer reviewed research papers, conference papers, interviews and reviews with contributions from world-renowned industry professionals.

Issue 01

Editorial

The first issue of a new academic journal is if nothing else an exciting moment in the sociology of knowledge! Why this particular set of interests now? Why can’t they be expressed in existing publications? Is this the first map of a new field or just another subplot on an existing disciplinary site? What does this journal mean for the development of new concepts and methodologies?

Provocations

The most significant and far-reaching change in musical culture worldwide over the past twenty years has been the emergence and rapid evolution of the project studio. Along with their offer of independence from the music industry establishment, project studios have brought about new modes of composition and production, and an upending of all manner of […]

Having been the subject of cyber activism himself, it is still a sore subject for Brian Burton, also known as DJ Danger Mouse—one of the successful producers of today. Three years ago, he was in the news for an artwork that was roundly condemned by a certain record company. Well, if you had the extraordinary […]

Articles

For many people, rock’s primal scene is set in a recording studio, in Memphis, in 1954. There, three musicians (Scotty Moore, Bill Black and Elvis Presley), a producer/engineer (Sam Phillips) and a tape recorder (Ampex) create a song (‘All Right Mama’) that durably transforms the physiognomy of music. In this article, I examine the technological, political and intellectual circumstances that made this event possible. One word holds pride of place in my discussion: feedback, a mode of organisation that originated in British scientific laboratories of the eighteenth century.

Throughout the history of recording studios, divisions of space have exerted a tremendous influence over the recording process, and have helped to shape the experiences of every recording participant, from the technicians behind the control room window, engineers and producers, to the musicians on the performance space floor. This article combines historical research with ethnographic inquiry in an attempt to analyze how power is enacted in the studio, and how studio design facilitates and maintains recording studio hierarchy.

This article presents an audio-visual exploration of various phenomena observed whilst investigating time domain shifts on individual signals in multi microphone recordings. In particular, it demonstrates aurally for the first time, the effect of the author’s: “Set Phasors to Stun”: An algorithm to improve phase coherence on transients in multi microphone recordings, [1] presented at the ICA2007 in Madrid.

Interviews

Haydn Bendall, Mick Glossop, Mike Howlett and Tony Platt, members of the UK Music Producers Guild, reflect on issues identified by Simon Frith in his editorial piece A Journal on the Art of Record Production.

Industry Perspective

“I’m only human.” It’s what we say when we make a mistake. Without mistakes, I’d be out of a job. When asked to explain what I do, I tend to describe classical music editing as “joining up the good bits and taking out the wrong notes.” This is, however, at best disingenuous and at worst a lie. Whilst it is a fair description of why the profession exists, it is not, as it turns out, actually what I do. So, what does the job really entail?